Two women among soldiers killed in Iraq

Four British soldiers killed in a roadside ambush in Iraq included two women.

A civilian interpreter was also killed in the blast in the southern city of Basra and a fifth soldier was seriously injured.

The explosion occurred as a Warrior patrol vehicle passed an Iraqi police checkpoint in Hayaniya, a slum area in the northwest of the city late on Wednesday.

British military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Kevin Stratford-Wright said: "Last night four soldiers and a civilian interpreter were killed in a roadside bomb attack on a Warrior to the west of Basra."

He said the patrol was attacked by roadside bombs, rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire as it returned from an operation. The area is a stronghold of the Mehdi Army militia of radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

British troops retaliated, attacking and destroying the checkpoint. The Iraqi police were arrested and had their guns confiscated.

The deaths mean a total of 140 British servicemen and women have died during operations in Iraq, and only four of those have been women.

This week has seen the highest British casualties since the US-led invasion in March 2003.

Kingsman Danny Wilson, 28, from Chindit Company, 2nd Battalion, the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment, was killed on Sunday when he was hit by small arms fire while Rifleman Aaron Lincoln, of the 2nd Battalion, The Rifles, died in similar circumstances a day later.

In February, Prime Minister Tony Blair said Britain would begin withdrawing a quarter of its 7,000 troops in the coming months, paving the way for Iraqis to take full control of Basra province.

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